'Owwww!'
Jack rubbed his shins and hobbled into the Butokuden. He laid his bokken
along the edge of the hall with the other students' weapons, then gingerly
knelt in line beside Yamato.
Akiko entered with Kiku and bowed. Saburo hurried in behind them.
'Owwww!' cried Saburo.
He too came hopping across the floor and eased himself into line, biting
his lip against the pain.
Sensei Hosokawa stood by the main entrance brandishing a shinai,
bamboo sword. He scrutinized the remainder of the new students making
their way across the courtyard to the dojo for their first period of the day – a
morning session of kenjutsu. Three more got struck across the shins upon
entering.
'Martial arts does not begin and end at the gate of the dojo!' thundered
Sensei Hosokawa as the last student joined the nervous rank of kneeling
boys and girls. 'Always bow with your sword raised high when you enter
the dojo. Anyone caught dragging their feet, slouching or being inattentive
will feel the edge of my shinai!'
The whole line immediately stiffened to avoid any possibility of
slouching. Sensei Hosokawa paced the hall, inspecting each prospective
samurai. As he levelled with Jack, he stopped.
Jack glanced up. Hosokawa appeared to be sizing Jack up.
'I hear from Sensei Masamoto,' he began, 'that you fought a ninja and
defeated him with a bokken. Is this true?'
'Umm… Hai… sort of…'
'Hai, SENSEI!' he thundered at Jack.
Jack quickly apologized and bowed lower. Idiot! He had forgotten the
proper etiquette when addressing a person of higher status. 'Hai, Sensei. I
was helping Yamato –'
'Excellent,' he said, cutting Jack off. 'Were you afraid?'
Jack didn't know what answer Hosokawa was expecting. He glanced
down the line of students who were all gawping at him. Should he admit
that he was terrified? That he thought the ninja was going to run him
through with his sword? Or else throttle him just like his father had been?
Jack could see Kazuki sneering at him, eager to hear the gaijin admit his
weakness to everyone. Then he caught Akiko's eye and she was quietly
nodding to him, speak true.
'Hai, Sensei,' said Jack cautiously.
'Absolutely,' agreed Hosokawa. 'One should be afraid when facing a
ninja.'
Jack breathed a sigh of relief as the sensei retraced his steps along the
line.
'Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that
something else is more important than fear.
6
Jack here valued his loyalty to
Yamato above fear. An ideal worthy of a samurai.'
Jack swelled with pride at the unexpected compliment and caught Kazuki
looking thoroughly annoyed at the sensei's praise.
Sensei Hosokawa continued, 'Jack showed courage, conquered fear and
so defeated his opponent. A fine lesson to start your training in the way
of…'
He stopped mid-sentence. Nobu was hurrying across the courtyard, late
for the lesson. He was tucking in his kimono as he went, his bokken shoved
awkwardly under his armpit. The sensei strode across to the door and
waited.
Every student knew exactly what was coming. Nobu kept running,
oblivious to his inevitable punishment.
'Owwww!'
Sensei Hosokawa's shinai rapped Nobu so sharply across both shins that
his feet went from under him and the boy fell flat on his face, his bokken
clattering across the wooden floor. There was the sound of stifled laughter
from the other students before Sensei Hosokawa cut them short with a stern
look.
'Get up! Never be late for my class again,' Hosokawa ordered, kicking
Nobu firmly in the rear. 'And never present yourself like that in my dojo!'
Nobu scrambled to his feet, looking like he was going to explode with
shame, and scurried over to the rest of them, bowing and scraping all the
way.
'Right, now that we're all here, we can begin your training. Pick up your
bokken, then line up in three rows down the dojo. Give yourselves enough
space to swing your weapon.'
They all bowed and got to their feet, haphazardly forming themselves
into three ragged lines.
'What is this?' screamed Hosokawa. 'Everyone ten press-ups! Kazuki,
count off!'
The whole class dropped to the floor and commenced their punishment.
'One! Two! Three! Four! Five!…'
'Next time, I say "Line up", I expect you to run! And form ordered
lines!'
Jack's arms shook a little with the effort, but despite last night's torture,
two years of climbing the rigging had strengthened him enough to cope
without breaking a sweat. Some of the students, though, began to miss out
counts and several gave up completely. Kazuki continued unabated, not
even out of breath.
'… Eight! Nine! Ten!'
'Now line up!'
Everyone got to their feet and sprinted into position.
'Better. First, I want you to simply hold your bokken in your hands.'
Jack adjusted his wooden sword until it was positioned exactly as Yamato
had shown him back in Toba.
'Where's your bokken?' Hosokawa suddenly demanded of a small,
mouse-like boy, who stood quietly at the back.
'Sensei, I left it in the Shishi-no-ma,' he said, cringing.
'What's your name?'
'Yori, Sensei.'
'Well, Yori-kun, what sort of samurai will you make?' said Hosokawa in
disgust.
'I don't know, Sensei.'
'I'll tell you – you'll be a dead one. Now get a spare from the Weapons
Wall.'
Yori scampered over and retrieved one from the back wall where the
wooden panels were loaded with weapons – swords, knives, spears, staffs
and half a dozen weapons Jack had no name for.
'To begin with, class, I want you simply to get a feel for the bokken. Hold
it. Get an idea of its weight, its shape, its point of balance. Swing it round –
without hitting the walls, the floor or anyone else!'
Jack shifted his bokken between his hands, juggling it between his left
and right. He tried some basic cuts, then spun himself round. He held it over
his head and swung it round in a great arc. Saburo was doing the same but,
failing to pay enough attention, struck another student on the back of the
head.
'I said without hitting anyone else!' shouted Hosokawa and rapped his
shinai across Saburo's shins again. 'The sword is an extension of your arm.
You should instinctively know where its kissaki is, the reach of its blade and
where it is in relation to your own body at all times.'
Without warning, Hosokawa brought his shinai up and struck with
lightning speed at Yamato's head, stopping within a hair's breadth of his
nose. Yamato flinched at the unforeseen attack, swallowing down hard on
his panic.
'What is the use of power, if there is no control?' Hosokawa said, letting
his weapon drop. 'Now hold your bokken out in front of you. Both arms out
straight, your weapon resting horizontally upon the edges of your hands.'
Jack stood there, the weight of the bokken gently pushing down on his
outstretched hands. Not too hard, thought Jack.
'And keep holding it there until I tell you to stop.'
Sensei Hosokawa began to pace the room thoughtfully. Like an army
turned to stone, every student held their arms out, bokken on top, and
waited for his command to stop.
One by one, the arms started to quiver. Two up from Jack, Kiku began to
drop her arms.
'Did I say you could lower your arms?' barked Hosokawa and Kiku
instantly straightened, her face straining at the effort.
A few minutes later, a girl in the far corner dropped her bokken, unable to
continue.
'Given up?' asked Hosokawa. 'Go sit at the side. Who's going to be
next?'
Several students immediately gave up, including Kiku and Yori. Akiko
was beginning to strain. Jack, however, was still feeling quite fresh.
Five others lowered their arms, breathless with the effort, and left the
training area.
'Beaten so easily?' Hosokawa said with obvious derision, as Saburo gave
up at the same time as Nobu.
'Excuse me, Sensei?' asked Saburo with appropriate deference, while
massaging the aches out of his arms.
'Yes?'
'What is the purpose of this exercise?'
'The purpose?' Hosokawa said, incredulous. 'I would have thought that
was obvious. If your own sword can defeat you in your own hands, what
hope do you have of ever defeating your enemy?'
The revelation of the point of the exercise renewed the efforts of all still
standing. Everyone was keen to impress the sensei in their first lesson and
they pushed on through the pain.
A few minutes later, though, two others dropped out, leaving only five
students standing – Jack, Kazuki, Yamato, Akiko and Emi, an elegant but
haughty girl, whom Jack had been told was the first daughter of the daimyo
Takatomi, the sponsor of the school.
Akiko's arms were beginning to shake badly, but she appeared
determined to beat the remaining girl. Emi, however, was the more stable of
the two. She looked over at Akiko and gave her a strained but victorious
grin. She clearly didn't wish to lose face either. Akiko began to take
shallow breaths, willing herself to keep going. Out of the corner of Jack's
eye, he could see Emi's arms beginning to drop. But then Akiko reached her
physical limit and she dropped her bokken.
Barely a second later, Emi's arms collapsed too.
'Excellent,' commented Hosokawa. 'Emi-chan, you demonstrated strong
fighting spirit. You earn my respect.'
They both went to sit down. On the way, Emi brushed into Akiko, a
triumphant look on her face. Jack saw Akiko throw her a prickly look,
evidently wanting the chance to wipe the supercilious expression off the
girl's face. Akiko, however, restrained herself and instead bowed politely.
'We still have three valiant warriors left,' announced Hosokawa. 'Kohai,
this is no longer about strength or stamina. This is about willpower. Mind
over matter. It's about testing the very limits of your endurance.'
Yamato was shaking like a tree in a storm. Jack knew he would not last
much longer, but that didn't matter. He was intent on outdoing Kazuki.
Kazuki, though, appeared as steady as a rock.
A few moment's later, Yamato's arms failed him and he had to join the
others at the edge of the dojo.
Jack and Kazuki continued to battle it out – the fight as much in their
own minds as with one another.
Kazuki's arms suddenly shuddered under the weight of the bokken.
'Kazuki!' shouted Nobu in support and several other students
immediately joined in. 'Kazuki! Kazuki! Kazuki!'
Kazuki, revived by the support, straightened his arms out again. He
grinned at Jack, confident of his victory over the gaijin.
Then Saburo blurted 'Come on, Jack!' and Akiko, Yamato and Kiku
added to the chorus 'Jack! Jack! Jack!'
The two boys stood in the centre of the Butokuden, warriors fighting an
invisible war, their armies chanting from the wings.
Jack thanked the Lord for all the hours he had spent as a rigging monkey
on-board the Alexandria. He was used to hanging on with his arms for
hours at a time in wind, rain or snow.
Yet he also knew his limits and recognized the signs that he was
approaching the end of his endurance. He had perhaps another minute or so
before his arms gave up entirely.
Kazuki, however, was once more as steady as a rock.